Dear Editor,

  The first day my mother saw me dressed in uniform getting ready to go to work,

 she gave me God's blessing and told me that I must always remember that anytime, anything happen to anybody anywhere, some mother's belly hurt. She said be fair to the people and treat them right.

  My Father was the philosopher, so coming from my mother that registered with me until today. All kinds of examples were given to us in the academy, but that one hit home.  When I got home in the afternoon after work, and asked her about what she had told me in the morning, she explained that when positive things happen, especially with police people, it is noticed, but soon forgotten. On the contrary, when something negative happens people will always remember that and continue to comment about it.

  It is expected for people involved in policing to do the right thing, so doing the right thing would be considered normal.  A whole lot of other people do negative things but that will go unnoticed. Whereas once people in policing mess up, it becomes the biggest offense.

  I read the results of the court case against the ex-head of VDSM and got the impression as if he was the biggest murderer that Sint Maarten has ever known. The person who supplied them with a lot of vital information. One would think that he had embezzled millions of dollars.  If memory serves me well, the amount involved in reality is about seventy-five percent less than he was accused of embezzling, and that those who were supposed to know did the Pilate thing.  With the little experience that I have in life and the forty one years in law enforcement.

  I know that there are certain standards of procedures, and, security of self, is one. I also know that a sense of integrity is another. I do not know anything about the case other than following it in the papers.  But from the onset I knew that security to those involved was laid aside for politics.  I cannot remember any such an office being exposed to the public.

  When I saw the ribbon cutting in the papers, I informed about it, and I was told that is how they wanted it. That already to me was a no-no.  Having an idea how finances for that department is handled, and in this case with no one to secure checks and balances, I told myself the stick is right there to beat that dog.  By now we all know that fear and threat took place in prompting the ex-head of VDSM to take those decisions.  Is that really fair?

  But I must mention this.  People in policing and government have always been at logger heads, and up to today there are still problems with salaries and promotions.  I am still not sure of the real reason for going at the ex-head of VDSM.  Was he railroaded? What would Donald Trump do in a case like this?

  I do not think it is far-fetched to think in this manner, because my pension money is being used to bail out bad spenders of government money. The harbour deal, the new government building deal, and we are talking millions. Dubious deals of which we have not heard of anyone being arrested.

  Not to talk about the causeway. The Causeway cost us an amount of which I as a taxpayer, a citizen and a voter am still waiting to see the figures, and we are not seeing any kind of returns from that investment. The casino's owed plenty and we only hear an amount of thirteen million. The ex-head of VDSM so-called unaccounted for amount was made to be almost seventy-five percent more than the real amount. And you know what, one mother said “I have to do this", and the other mother’s belly hurt.

Russell A. Simmons

Dear Editor,
I must applaud the Minister of Finance Richard Gibson and his cabinet for making it possible to have consecutive balanced budgets for three years, no small feat and also presenting it on time to Governor Eugene Holiday. This is really no small feat.
One should not underestimate the heated debates that possibly took place during the discussions on where and how much to cut. Every ministry has its priorities and probably some more than others, but in the final analysis a compromise had to be reached as time was of essence. If government continues on this trend, which also should include surpluses then it means more funds available for government to meet its vital responsibilities.
We are all aware of the issues with the Police Force relating to the function book, payment arrears and so on; the much-needed repairs to schools and much more. What must be remembered is that with five years consecutive balanced budgets there is a possibility that the Committee for Financial Supervision will no longer be needed. Some might want it to be in place while others, like myself, would prefer that not to be the case for the simple fact that they determine whether the budget is feasible or realistic.
While Parliament and Government have the responsibility of providing seriously needed social welfare to those who are in dire need of such. In his opinion, the CFT looks at figures and he looks at people. I believe the way forward is to have a department set up separately to look at the financial management of each ministry. This was started in the past but for some reason it was halted. What must be ensured is that there is waste management and he is not talking about the sanitary landfill. It is a discipline that all of us need to practice.
Finally, the mention again by the Minister of the 40-million-guilder upgrade a long awaited process for a long neglected Inspectorate of Taxes is of utmost importance. We are in the 21st century and modern technology is available. It should not be that almost for some 25 years now one still has to wait two years or more to collect his/ her tax refund. The United States of America pay their tax refunds in April of the following year. Case in point on April 2017, taxes for 2016 were paid.
Again congratulations to the ones involved in having this draft budget ready on time. No small feat.

George Pantophlet
Member of Parliament

Dear Editor,
Please allow me to respond to that article entitled “On Parity” in the following manner. I must admire the energy and effort of the writer, but would ask him to be more careful when challenging the Democratic Party of Statia. We do our research and present the facts to the people of Statia in accordance with our code of ethics. We have no desire to scare or frighten our citizens, but we do believe that all is better served with truthful and factual information.
In his letter of the 8th of June 2015, Minister Plasterk informed the second chamber of the Netherlands about the tax and premium income and total Federal Expenses of the Caribbean Netherlands, divided over Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba for the year 2014.
Of the €110 million collected in the BES Islands, €13 million or 11, 8 % was collected on Statia. A whopping 80% of that income was collected on Bonaire. Of the €287 million in total BES expenditures, €54 million was attributed to Statia. €13/€54=24%; this means that the Dutch Government is covering 76% of our expenses, or three times the taxes and premiums generated on Statia. Until other information is available this is the information we will continue to refer to.
I also noticed Glen that you omitted to mention the €42 million that the Dutch Government pays into the BES Fund, which is paid out as free allowance, bringing the total expenditures for 2016 to €340 million, instead of the €298 you quoted in your article. You need to get your information straight, recalculate your parity and explain how income generated by Bonaire will finance an autonomous Statia.
We are all for more autonomy and support all actions that lead to a more self-sufficient and sustainable Statia. Being able to carry your own load is the real key to more autonomy. Our focus therefor should be to build our economy and improve the wellbeing of our people. We in no way can support a coalition government that has divorced itself from the very essential funding available to Statia to help us on our way.
While Statia is content to argue and fight the Dutch every step of the way, Bonaire and Saba are grabbing what they can. I never thought in all my years we would be arguing over the size, and fighting for a bill the Dutch Government is content to pay on behalf of the people of Statia.
What is interesting to know is what sacrifices Glen and the coalition government are asking the people of Statia to make? Will the universal health care remain intact? What will be the amount of old age pension and social benefits? Will our teachers and civil servants continue to receive their yearly periodic increases and cost-of-living adjustments? What about the regular CLA adjustments? Will education continue to be free?
My advice to you Glen is to stay far from the issue of integrity, leave that for someone else. Correct your numbers and recalculate your parity and focus on Statia, not the three Islands together. Bonaire’s revenues belong to Bonaire. Come out of the clouds; there’s no autonomy without responsibility.

Ernie Simmons
Advisor to the Democratic Party of Statia

Dear Editor,

  It is important to evaluate our representatives in Parliament on an annual basis and not wait until election time. Therefore, St. Maarten Christian Party (SMCP) is developing a parliamentary report card that will indicate how well or how poorly our Members of Parliament (MPs) are doing in the following six areas: attendance, participation, representation, supervision, legislation and interaction. In a previous letter to the Editor, we covered the reason for and the nature of the report card and presented an extensive description of the first benchmark, attendance.

  Later on, we dealt with the following benchmarks: participation, representation and supervision. And finally we will describe the last two benchmarks of the report card i.e. legislation and interaction.

  The legislative function of Parliament is anchored in article 82 of the Constitution, which states, “National ordinances shall be enacted jointly by the Government and Parliament.” In other words, Parliament is co-legislator together with Government. Parliament as well as Government may initiate or draft laws, which must follow the legally prescribed route and procedures in order to reach their final destination, which is approval by Parliament.

  During the first six years of Parliament, approximately 40 laws were presented by the Government and passed by Parliament. With the exception of the budget laws, all the other laws were adoptions or amendments to laws that were already in force in the Netherlands Antilles.

  Sadly, in the nearly seven years of the existence of our Parliament, not one law, initiated or drafted by Parliament itself, reached its final destination. The very first draft initiative ordinance, namely the law to eliminate the abuse of the temporary labour contract, was submitted on June 6, 2012 by the National Alliance (NA) fraction. That was more than five years ago. To date this law has not been approved but is still in the pipeline.

  When we look at individual parliamentarians initiating laws, the annual reports of Parliament only make mention of Petrus de Weever who submitted a motion in June 2011 to amend the timeshare laws in St. Maarten. However, according to The Daily Herald of April 12, 2013 MPs Frans Richardson and Johan Leonard also submitted a draft initiative law to ban the import, distribution and sale of plastic bags. In conclusion, the legislative functioning of Parliament and of parliamentarians, as far as initiating laws is concerned, is seriously lacking and would certainly receive a failing grade.

  Interaction refers to parliamentarians interfacing and communicating with the voters and the public. During the campaign period, prospective parliamentarians were daily in the face of the people. They interacted on a one-on-one basis or with groups via social media, radio and television talk shows, home contact meetings, town hall and public meetings. However, after the election all contact with the people was severed. In fact, it seems as if parliamentarians now try to avoid the public.

  The interaction benchmark will evaluate how parliamentarians stay in touch with the public. They will be evaluated on how frequently they interact via their websites and other social media.

  We will look at how often a parliamentarian goes on radio and television talk shows to inform or enlighten the public about issues relevant to them and their community. Does he/she keep in touch with the people via the print media or via town hall meetings? Does the parliamentarian visit companies, organisations or businesses to get a first-hand feel of what is going on? The interaction benchmark will give the people an idea of how well or how poorly a parliamentarian is keeping in touch with the public.

  In SMCP’s Manifesto, a chapter was included entitled “Post-Election Agenda.” The purpose of this activity is to keep in touch with the people. Most political parties and their candidates only reach out to the public prior to the elections to get your vote. But SMCP believes that the people are always important and therefore wants to also reach out to the people after the election. The party planned to do so via general membership meetings, media and social media, lectures and town hall meetings. I have not seen this kind of commitment to the voters and the public in any other Manifesto.

  Rather than wait until campaign time to talk about what a parliamentarian did or did not do and how well or how poorly he/she executed their parliamentary functions, the SMCP intends to evaluate members of Parliament at the end of each parliamentary year and present their scorecard to the general public.

  Consequently, at the end of their term of office, the public can judge for itself as to which parliamentarians were functioning and which ones were not. The parliamentarian who attended meetings, represented and interacted with the people, carried out his/her supervisory task, etc. deserves another chance.

  But the parliamentarian who said nothing of substance in Parliament, who did not read the documentation, who did not attend meetings and who did not interact with the public should definitely not be rewarded with another four years in Parliament. The report card is simply a tool to help the people make the right choice.

Wycliffe Smith

Leader of the St. Maarten Christian Party